Today's pets, just like many of their owners, struggle with being overweight and even obesity. An animal's weight can significantly decrease the animal's activity level, which begins a downward spiral of gaining even more weight and becoming even less active. It's a dangerous cycle. For this reason, owners have been trying figure out an easy way limit the amount of food their beloved companions eat and their caloric intake. A need clearly exists for an easy way of collecting food and making sure that it is the right amount. Adjustable measuring cups have been around for a while, however, all of the prior art is poorly adapted to measuring, and serving a proper amount of animal food. Specifically the prior art does provide a way to carefully measure out an amount based on a dogs activity level. The prior art also does not provide a convenient way of serving the food after it has been collected Examples of related art are described below.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,103,708 pertains to a moveable structure of an adjustable measuring device such as a spoon or scoop having a structure molded of a single material with thin flexible curved edges which fit into the internal walls of the housing to provide increased surface. The moveable dam being molded in a single step of a single thermoplastic material to give the device a tapered cross-sectional shape with the inner portion thicker than the outer edges.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,717 pertains to a measuring device having a bowl. The bowl's capacity being adjusted by a dam structure located within the bowl and attaching to a cover structure slidably mounted on the bowl. The slidable cover extends beyond the bowl for use as a handle. The handle has a downwardly directed extension which is used to support and stabilize the device when the device rests on a flat surface. The handle also having a rounded indentation at the junction between the extension and the handle, so as to reinforce the junction and provide for easily gripping the device. The sides of the bowl structure being flexible so that they can be squeezed together to release the cover so that the device can easily be disassembled and reassembled for cleaning. A detent structure is provided to locate the sliding dam at pre-marked measurement locations. The detent structure is centrally located to permit strengthening of the sliding attachment and reduce wear.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,086,282 pertains to an adjustable measuring scoop including a movable partition that adjustably rotates on a rotating means such as an axle so as to result in a scoop size that can be selectively determined between a maximum and a minimum by ready manual manipulation of the scoop. The movable partition and rotating means being preferably configured so that the movable partition moves toward and away from the scoop's opening, permitting, e.g., a symmetric frontal contour that may be more effective in scooping from a container. Adjustment of the movable partition may also optionally be effected by means including a manual slide that has a linear and/or relatively short range of motion.
None of the art described above addresses all of the issues that the embodiments of the present invention do. A need still exists for providing a user, an adjustable measuring device which enables one to scoop a specific amount of food, and serve it to a pet. The present application provides an adjustable measuring device with an elongated scoop, a handle, and a cup and a moveable member configured to adjust a position of said cup, with the scoop forming a cylinder with a small front wall, allowing food to be secured momentarily and released easily when served, and the scoop having a gauge display, for easier and more precise adjustment of the scoop volume.